Volume 1, Issue 2,
January 2013

Responding to suggestions from the research fellowship of the Institute of African Studies for a re-branding of the Research Review, which began publication in the early 1960s soon after the establishment of the Institute, the old title has now been replaced with a new title - Contemporary Journal of African Studies. This is the second issue of the first volume under that title.

In a globalizing world the absence of standardization in measurement does not allow for objective comparison and ranking of education-related concepts and experiences across nations. The ranking of world universities especially with regards to the quality of their professors is a case in point. Differing and relative definition of assessment indicators make such effort unfair across universities in different parts of the world. This paper discusses the international principles and guidelines leading to the professoriate. It affirms that the professor is the soul of the university which itself is a world-wide liberal space for the development of the human intellect and genius. The paper further argues that when an individual has been able to satisfy the rigours of the professoriate, such an individual owes it as an obligation to impact positively his/her environment through contributing to the resolution of the problems that may be plaguing his/her environment. It was within this purview that the African professor was called upon not to divest himself/herself of the rigours and discipline of the professoriate as soon as he attains the peak of academic accomplishment for the pursuit of vain political and social attainments. The African professor is rather called upon to embark on the most important phase of his career by using his privileged position to proffer solutions to pressing African problems.

Pre-colonial societies in Northern Ghana have been described as "centralized" and "acephalous". While the Mole-Dagbani, Gonja and Wala states were said to be centralized, that is states with systems of government by which jurisdiction is territorial and based on chieftaincy with a paramount chief serving as the nexus of authority, the rest of the societies in Northern Ghana were described as acephalous - lacking territorial unity defined in administrative terms and by the notion of chieftaincy. Categorized as acephalous, the pre-colonial existence of chieftaincy in Nawuri society was dismissed. This paper argues that the description of Nawuri society as acephalous is inappropriate and inconsistent with available historical evidence about the ancient existence of chieftaincy among the Nawuri. Scholars must begin to construct the historicity of chieftaincy among the Nawuri in the context of a centralized, rather than an "acephalous" society.

This paper examines polygamous customary marriage in Ghana, West Africa, in the context of colonial policy and legislation, which established the current plural legal environment in which Ghanaians negotiate their marriages and the dissolution of marriages. The human rights polemic between universalist advocates of individual rights and cultural relativist advocates of communitarian rights is activated in order to assess the efficacy of applying human rights principles to provide redress in family law cases. In doing so, the global north-south contention that the human rights movement is merely Western moral imperialism is tested. The paper demonstrates the way in which the more limited protection of rights afforded to women under customary law has been strengthened by the domestication of human rights treaties in the current constitution and legislation of Ghana, and the explicit application of human rights principles by judges in the judicial process.

The proliferation of ethnic militias and the intensification of ethno-regional nationalism demanding a re-negotiation of the federalist foundations of the Nigerian state have resulted in the escalation of ethno-religious conflicts in many of Nigerian's urban communities. This problem seriously hampers efforts at national integration as it applies to the building of a nation-state out of the disparate ethnic, geographic, social, economic and religious elements in the country. Foundational issues, which had hitherto been classified as "non-negotiable" in the constitution-making process of the late 1980s, appeared to have been re-invented in recent times. These issues constitute the core of the "national question", which has lingered and remained unresolved since independence. It is in this regard that this paper explores how the resurgence of ethno-nationalism and religious extremism pose a major threat to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The study attempts to answer the following questions: Is the simultaneous spread of democracy and of ethnic conflicts an accident of history, or mutually connected processes? Is ethno-nationalism compatible with the legal framework of a nation-state? Does democracy exacerbate conflicts, or does it help resolve them? How could multi-ethnic societies like Nigeria resolve the contradiction between democratization and conflicts? The paper argues that competitive political parties and open elections tend to mobilize and politicize regional, ethnic, religious and racial solidarities in divided societies. This again tends to intensify disintegrative processes of fragile states without contributing to their stability or legitimacy - at least, in the short run.

It has been argued by scholars that no nation can fully achieve its development potentials without democratic governance as engendered and supported by vibrant civil society. In this regard, civil society (CS) is seen as the engine of democratic governance (DG) and development of nations. Utilizing secondary data, the paper examines CS, DG and development in Nigeria. It finds that the nation's inability to enjoy DG for development in the past is the absence of continuous vibrant CS arising from weak support and lack of tolerance for the activities of CS organizations by the government and also, the non-adherence to democratic norms by public officials both in words and action. The paper concludes that for the citizens to enjoy DG there is the need for the CS organizations in the country to unite in their activities against repression, and resist every attempt by the government to cause division within their ranks as strategy for the successful entrenchment of democratic norms and its resultant dividends.